User-centric event reporting with follow-up information

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a system and method for receiving hazard and event information in a mobile unit and using that information to warn a user of an event or future hazard with reference to the mobile unit&#39;s location and/or intended direction of travel. A hazard location algorithm compares a forecast location of each mobile unit with a forecast hazard and transmits a warning to each mobile unit that is predicted to encounter the hazard. As the mobile unit moves, its actual position is updated in an event center, and a revised warning is transmitted to the mobile unit as applicable. Warnings include audio warnings for playback and/or visual warnings for display on the mobile device. Users may also wirelessly report events or hazards to a central server in an event center by sending data to the event center via a wireless communications network. Secondary information may be included, based on the selected event type.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED CASES

The present application is a continuation of co-pending application Ser.No. 11/024,979, titled User-Centric Event Reporting, and filed Dec. 30,2004, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.10/969,915, filed Oct. 22, 2004, entitled User-Centric Event Reporting,which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/386,437, filed Mar.13, 2003, entitled Rotating Map And User-Centric Weather Prediction.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to hazard and event warningsystems. More particularly, the invention provides a method andapparatus for receiving event and/or hazard information by a portableelectronic device and using that information to warn a device operatorof a future event or hazard with respect to the specific device'slocation, and also provide the device operator with the ability toreport event or hazard information to a server for further distribution.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vehicle operators, such as automobile drivers, frequently tune to radiostations while traveling in order to obtain weather forecastinformation. Such forecasts generally cover a large geographic area,such as an entire county or a multi-county region, and can provide someindication to the vehicle operator of likely weather trouble, such as aflash flood or tornado. Because they cover such large areas, however,generalized weather forecasts may cause wasteful evasive action bydrivers not realistically at risk. For example, if the National WeatherService issues a flash flood warning for an entire county, all driversin the county may need to heed the warning, even if the flood areas makeup only a small part of the county.

Similarly, if a sudden snowstorm approaches from the west, a largenumber of drivers may take evasive action based on a general weatherforecast for cities in the path of the approaching storm. Depending onwhere the drivers are relative to the weather hazard, some drivers mayfeel the effects of the storm shortly after the warning, while othersmay not be in the path of the storm for 10, 20, or even 30 minutes.Providing drivers with more accurate and vehicle-specific weatherforecasts could result in substantial time and energy savings. Forexample, if a driver is heading West and is projected to arrive at hisdestination within 20 minutes, it would be helpful to know that thestorm will not arrive at the intended destination for another 30minutes. Such a system would be particularly useful for fleets ofcommercial trucks or buses, for example, particularly since suchvehicles may be more susceptible to causing injury or property damageduring severe weather events (e.g., snow, ice storms, and the like).

Various position-sensitive automated vehicle systems have been proposed.For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,687 (“System and Method forCommunicating Information Related to a Geographic Area”) describes asystem for displaying the location of a vehicle to the vehicle operator,along with other information such as a weather map. However, the systemcannot provide the sort of information that would permit a vehicleoperator to determine whether he or she was likely to encounter aweather hazard and for how long such a hazard might last.

Another system, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,374 (“Apparatus for andMethod of Controlling Vehicular Systems While Traveling”), assists avehicle operator by automatically controlling the vehicle in response tovarious detected conditions and an intended travel position. Onevariation of the system extracts current weather information and usesthe information to sound an alarm. The system, however, does not providepredicted weather information to the vehicle operator; it does notprovide hazard duration information; and it does not provide weatherinformation tailored to the particular vehicle. Consequently, the systemdoes not solve the aforementioned problems.

Yet another system, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,699 (“Systems andMethods for Distributing Real-Time Site Specific Weather Information”),reports weather forecasts through the use of storm profiles that aretransmitted to remote units at dispersed geographic sites. The remoteunits are stationary, and storm profiles are transmitted to remote unitsbased on their geographic location. The system has no application foruse with moving vehicles, as it cannot receive information concerningthe mobile location of such vehicles.

In addition to the above, because we live in an increasingly mobilesociety, individuals are more likely to get lost or disoriented inunfamiliar territory and have their safety threatened by severe weatherconditions. Specifically, weather is a factor in a high percentage oftransportation accidents, including commercial aviation (26.8%), generalaviation (20%), boating (11.2% of accidents; 14.8% of accidentsinvolving fatalities), automobiles (16.3%), and recreational vehicles(10%). While some of these accidents were due to operator error, othersare due to the driver, pilot or operator of the vehicle traveling intoan area of hazardous weather beyond his or her skill level or thecapability of his or her vehicle to handle the inclement weather.Current terrestrial navigation and weather systems suffer from severaldeficiencies: 1) receipt of a warning depends on a user being tuned to aradio station in the affected area that actually broadcasts stormwarnings (in addition, many radio stations no longer broadcast warningsoutside of the immediate area in which they are located); 2) warnings,e.g., NWR tone alerts, are only broadcast once—if the user misses thewarning, the user will not be notified of the impending inclementconditions; and 3) if the user is not tuned to the correct radio stationat the time of the warning, the user will miss the warning.

Assuming that the user actually hears the warning, the National WeatherService issues storm warnings by county. Thus, in order for the warningto be meaningful to the user, he or she would necessarily need to befamiliar with the county layout of the area. However, when traveling,few people know which county they are currently in or which county theyare approaching, other than when in or around their own home county. Inaddition, when the National Weather Service indicates that a storm is“near Jonesburg, moving northeast at 40 mph,” it assumes a user knowsthe location of Jonesburg, the spatial relationship between Jonesburgand the user's location (which may be changing if the user is in motion)and is able to integrate the motion of the storm with the motion of theuser to know if the user is actually threatened. However, most peopleare not cognizant of this information.

Previously, the meteorological science and the positioning andcommunications technology required to get site specific information fora given vehicle or user and the hazards it could face did not exist.However, a number of navigation products for aviation, marine andterrestrial use have recently been introduced, including TeleType WorldNavigator, MapTech Pocket Navigator, MapTech Outdoor Navigator, TeleTypeGPS Companion, Microsoft Streets & Trips, Hertz NeverLost, ControlVisionAnywhereMap/AnywhereWx.

In each of these products (except AnywhereWx), the user map orientationis fixed with a moving icon representing the vehicle (automobile orboat) in motion. This approach has a number of shortcomings, includingease with which a user can still get lost, and inability to adapt tonon-fixed range conditions. That is, users who cannot easily read andinterpret maps may still get lost. For example, if a map is alwaysoriented with north at the top and a right turn is indicated, to someonetraveling south the turn is actually to the left (on the map). A displaythat rotates to keep the route of travel at the top of the display wouldallow turns and other maneuvers to be synchronized with the route oftravel (i.e., left on the display is the direction the driver actuallyturns).

Fixed ranges may be appropriate when a map display is used fornavigation only, but fixed ranges are not appropriate when a device isused to anticipate hazardous conditions. For example, exits on theKansas Turnpike can be as much as 30 miles apart. A user travelingwestbound at Topeka using a navigation device with a fixed-range mapdisplay set on a range of ten miles may go past the last exit and driveinto a dangerous weather situation 15 miles to the west. There would beno way for the user to avoid or escape on this limited-access ruralhighway.

Some known aviation systems rotate a display map with the route offlight and changes in aircraft direction. However, these are relativelylarge units intended to be fixed inside the cockpit of an aircraft.There is one known aviation display system that is portable, AnywhereMapby Control Vision. AnywhereMap uses a GPS signal to rotate its displayto conform to the direction of travel of the AnywhereMap device. The mapmoves underneath a fixed icon or point on the display to indicate thelocation of the device above the map. There is a supplement toAnywhereMap called AnywhereWx in which current radar and other weatherinformation is added. No forecast information is available onAnywhereWx, nor does it have the capability of changing ranges orotherwise notifying a pilot or user of hazardous conditions in thetravel path. There is no technology to predict when the path ofhazardous weather and a moving user will intersect.

Hertz's Neverlost in-car navigation system also changes orientation asthe automobile changes direction. However, there is no weatherinformation on the Neverlost system. In addition, because the Neverlostsystem is designed to assist automobile renters who are generallyunfamiliar with the locale in which they have rented the car, theclose-up fixed map range is inappropriate for meteorological display andwarning purposes.

In addition to the above limitations, known systems typically provide,at most, only location information regarding the mobile device. That is,the mobile device cannot be used to report information, other thanlocation information, from the mobile device to a second party, e.g.,another user or a central server.

The aforementioned problems indicate there is a need for the solutionsprovided by the present invention.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a system and method for receiving event or hazardinformation by a mobile data processing device and using thatinformation to warn a user of the device of a future hazard or lifethreatening event with reference to the user's and/or device's intendeddirection of travel. In one embodiment, an event center maintains adatabase and display of hazards (current and predicted) across a largearea, such as the entire United States and adjacent coastal waters. Theevent center also receives information regarding the location of each ofa plurality of mobile data processing devices, such as PDA's, cellphones, laptop computers, automobiles or a fleet of commercial trucks.

A hazard location algorithm compares a forecast location of each devicewith a forecast hazard and transmits a warning to each device that ispredicted to encounter the hazard. The warning can take the form oftext, audio, and/or a visual display indicating, for example, that thedevice will likely encounter heavy snow in approximately 30 minutes, andthat the heavy snow will last for approximately 45 minutes. As thedevice moves, its actual position is updated in the event center, and arevised warning is transmitted to the device. The warning can beconveyed to the vehicle in terms of mile posts, railroad stations,waypoints, Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range Stations (VORs),latitude/longitude, etc.

In some embodiments, the event forecast warning system may use arotating map to display information to a user of the system. The systemdisplay displays a geographic map including an icon indicating a presentlocation of the system on the geographic map, based on received locationinformation. The display also includes forecast hazard information.Control logic of the system rotates the geographic map displayed, basedon the received location information, so that a direction of travel ofthe system maintains constant with respect to a predetermined positionon a housing of the display (e.g., the top of the display).

In yet other embodiments there is a method for providing informationregarding an observed event, receiving an event type as user input intoa mobile data processing device, where the event type is selected from aconstrained set of event types displayed on the mobile data processingdevice. The mobile data processing device determines an event locationin proximity to the mobile data processing device, and wirelessly sendsto an event center, the event type and the determined event location.The location can be determined in various ways, including user input,automatic detection, or reading location information from a seconddevice such as an RFID tag.

The event center may receive from a mobile data processing device,computer readable data comprising information corresponding to an eventvisually observed by a user of the mobile data processing device,wherein the data includes a type of event, and includes a location ofthe event based on the location of the mobile data processing device.The type of event can be selected from a constrained set of event types.The event center may then display on a display device a warning based onthe received computer readable data.

In some embodiments, based on the event initially reported, the devicemay be used to report subsequent related information, or secondaryinformation, regarding the event dependent on the type of eventinitially selected by the user of the mobile data processing device.E.g., where the event type identifies a medical condition, it is usefulto know such information including the afflicted person's bloodpressure, or to relay EKG information. The mobile data processing devicemay receive an input value for a type of secondary informationassociated with the selected event type, and wirelessly send to an eventcenter the input value for the secondary information. The event centermay optionally return a confirmation message to the mobile dataprocessing device.

The secondary information may be determined in various ways according tovarious embodiments of the invention. For example, the types ofsecondary information associated with various event types may be storedin a lookup table, database, or other storage in the mobile dataprocessing device. Alternatively, the associated type of secondaryinformation may be provided by the event center. An event type may havemultiple types of secondary information associated with it. Secondaryinformation may include numerical values (e.g., a blood pressure),binary data (e.g., an EKG), textual information, visual images orphotos, audio recordings, and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a system including an event center that provides hazardinformation to a plurality of recipients 107, 108 and 109.

FIG. 2 shows one possible configuration for a vehicle warning system andmethod including a display 201 that shows weather hazard information anda cell phone 207 that optionally displays weather hazard information.

FIG. 3A shows a current weather grid including current and forecastweather hazards, and current and forecast vehicle locations.

FIG. 3B shows the weather grid of FIG. 3A after ten minutes haveelapsed.

FIG. 3C shows the weather grid of FIG. 3A after twenty minutes haveelapsed.

FIG. 3D shows the weather grid of FIG. 3A after thirty minutes haveelapsed.

FIG. 3E shows the weather grid of FIG. 3A after forty minutes haveelapsed.

FIG. 3F shows the weather grid of FIG. 3A after fifty minutes haveelapsed.

FIG. 4A shows a current weather grid including current and forecastweather hazards, and current and forecast vehicle locations.

FIG. 4B shows the weather grid of FIG. 4A after ten minutes haveelapsed.

FIG. 4C shows the weather grid of FIG. 4A after twenty minutes haveelapsed.

FIG. 5 shows a method of generating weather hazard information forvehicles according to various principles of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative rotating user map in a first orientationaccording to an aspect of the invention.

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative rotating user map in a second orientationaccording to an aspect of the invention.

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative rotating user map in the second orientationaccording to an aspect of the invention, zoomed out from FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 illustrates a storm spotter observing meteorological conditionsusing a mobile device, according to an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a display of meteorological conditions as reportedto a weather monitoring system, according to an illustrative embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a conventional crawl generation method.

FIG. 12 illustrates a method for generating information for broadcastvia television according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of a vehicular media system with anintegrated hazard warning system, according to an illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates a method for reporting follow up information basedon the type of event initially selected by a user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a system employing various principles of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 1, an event center 101 receivesevent-related information from various sources, such as weather-relatedinformation from one or more radar sources 102, temperature data sources103, wind data sources 104, and other data sources 105 (including, butnot limited to, regional weather stations that provide air and pavementtemperature, humidity, and other measurements). One or more antennas 110coupled to weather center 101 may receive information regarding thelocation of mobile devices that use the system. In addition to orinstead of radio frequency communication, this information can bereceived over the Internet, wireless network, or other computer network,or via dedicated dial-up telephone lines. Additionally, AircraftSituation Display (ASD) data 113 can be received from various sources,such as the FAA, which distributes information regarding the currentlocation and identity of aircraft.

Event center 101 may also be connected to and receive information fromnon-weather related entities, such as Federal, State, and/or localemergency response agencies 114 (fire, police, EMS, 911, FEMA, etc.),private response companies 115. In this manner, center 101 may beequipped to accept, provide, and/or relay information regarding any lifethreatening or hazardous event.

In one embodiment, event center 101 may be coupled to one or more tripplanning web sites 106, which allow device operators to pre-registerwith the system and to optionally file trip plans, similar in nature toso-called “flight plans” that are filed by pilots. In this embodiment,described in more detail herein, device operators provide informationregarding the identity of the device, the intended starting point anddestination, and route information (e.g., which highways will betraversed), and this information is stored in event center 101 fortracking purposes.

Each recipient 107, 108 and 109 includes a corresponding device,illustrated by element 107 a, 108 a, and 109, that receives eventinformation from event center 101 pertaining to that device's currentand/or future predicted location. In certain embodiments, each device isequipped with a navigational device such as a GPS receiver that enablesthe device to determine its present position and a radio frequencytransmitter that transmits the device's current location to weathercenter 101. Additionally, as described below, each device preferablyincludes a display and/or audio output device that permits eventinformation to be communicated to the device operator. In oneembodiment, the device comprises a cellular telephone, a wirelessPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA), or other similar device.

It is presumed that a network of radio antennae illustrated as elements110, 111, and 112 is available to relay signals to and from each device.Alternatively, satellite communication can be used, or a combination ofthe two can be used. Various commercially available systems, such as theso-called “ON STAR™” system, or a mobile telecommunications carrier(e.g., Sprint PCS, Cingular, Nextel, etc.) can be used to transmit andreceive information including device identification and locationinformation. For aircraft, the FAA provides a data stream thatidentifies each aircraft by its tail number and provides the currentlocation of the aircraft. Although not critical to the invention, it iscontemplated that each device user (or fleet operator, whereappropriate) will pre-register each device with event center 101 byautomatically or manually providing device identification informationthat can then be used to correlate device locations with particulardevices. Event center 101 may charge a fee for event reporting serviceson a monthly or transaction basis, thus providing a commerciallybeneficial arrangement.

In general, event center 101 generates event or hazard predictions for aplurality of geographic areas, such as four square kilometer “cells,”and compares the location (current and predicted) of each cell in whichthere is a future event or hazard to device locations. The size of thecells is arbitrary, as they could be 100 yards on a side or even smalleras meteorological science improves and computing power continues to dropin price. For each event or hazard, event center 101 transmits a messageto each device that is predicted to intersect with or be located in thecell, and optionally provides information concerning the nature of theevent (e.g., severe snowstorm, flood, chemical plume, biological hazard,terrorist attack, etc.), the predicted time before the event will occur,based on the device's current path (including, for example, thedirection and speed of the event), and the predicted duration of theevent.

Event center 101 monitors weather conditions around various geographicareas such as counties, States, bodies of water, or the entire UnitedStates, and forecasts future events, including weather hazards such assevere storms, hail, snow, wind, ice, tornados, or other types ofhazards. There are numerous methods of predicting weather involving bothcomputers and humans, and various companies provide weather forecastingservices, as does the National Weather Service. One example of a weatherpredicting method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,567, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Tracking of Organized Storms.”

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment for a device 200 that can beused independently or installed in vehicles in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention. It will be appreciated that varioustypes of navigational aids are commercially available, including GPSreceivers and map displays that identify a device operator's currentlocation. The inventive principles can be applied by modifying any ofthese commercially available units to incorporate additional functionscontained herein. Moreover, various commercially available systems canbe installed in a vehicle to transmit the current location of thevehicle for various purposes, such as theft prevention and vehiclerecovery. Alternatively, device 200 may be a standalone data processingunit with the requisite capabilities, such as a laptop or notebookcomputer, personal digital assistant or mobile telephone, handheld ortablet PC, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, a GPS receiver 203 receives information fromsatellites that permits the device to determine its current locationwith a reasonable degree of accuracy. This information is fed into amicroprocessor 202, which is programmed to periodically transmit theinformation through wireless transceiver 204, or through an optionalother network interface 208. When installed in a vehicle, additionalinformation from the vehicle, such as data from vehicle sensors (e.g.,temperature, speed, etc.) can be transmitted to the event center throughtransceiver 204 or network interface 208.

Microprocessor 202 can be programmed with information regarding where totransmit the information (e.g., a radio frequency, Internet Protocoladdress, or the like). Instead of a single event center, multiple eventcenters can of course be provided, and each device can transmit to thenearest event center based on its location or to an event center for aparticular type of event. Alternatively, distributed receiving centerscan forward device location information to a central event center usinga computer network such as the Internet. Transceiver 204 may include areceiver that receives messages transmitted from the event center and atransmitter for providing information from the device to the eventcenter. Alternatively, the warnings can be received through Networkinterface 208. Warnings can be transmitted as text and/or audio messagesto a cellular telephone number provided by the device operatorcorresponding to the device.

In one embodiment, a map display 201 of the type commonly used incommercially available vehicle navigation systems or on portableelectronic devices is coupled to the microprocessor 202. As shown, themap shows the current location of the device superimposed on a map, suchas a street or county map. Additionally, warning information receivedfrom the event center can be superimposed in the form of text and/orgraphics on the map display in order to indicate the proximity anddirection of the hazard or to the device operator. A speaker 205 can beused to generate audio warnings.

Turning to the operation of the event center, in one embodiment acomputerized database of current and forecast event information, such asweather information, is generated and periodically updated. This datacan be stored in a grid-type data structure in which a geographic areais divided into cells of a given size (e.g., four statute of nauticalmiles on each side). In other words, weather hazard informationextracted from a weather map (extracted either by a human operator orautomatically by computer) is converted into a discrete hazard indicator(e.g., severe snow, severe thunderstorm, hail, chemical cloud, etc.) andthe indicator is stored into a cell corresponding to the area over whichthe hazard will occur. A county, for example, may be divided into aplurality of fixed-size cells, and a storm moving through the county maycause hazard indicators to be stored in a subset of those cells as thestorm moves, thus avoiding sending a warning message to an entire countyif possible.

For purposes of illustration, it will be assumed that a geographicregion is divided into a plurality of cells. In each cell for which acurrent or forecast hazard exists, a hazard indicator is stored toindicate the current or predicted condition in the cell. The grid isupdated as the event situation changes (e.g., the weather changes).Thus, every few minutes, the grid is updated to reflect the latestcurrent and predicted future information.

In one embodiment, information concerning each device location is alsomaintained in the weather grid, such that overlaps between forecasthazards and forecast device locations can be identified by computer.Assume that a severe thunderstorm is moving directly from west to east,and a device is moving directly toward the advancing storm (i.e., fromeast to west). FIG. 3A shows a current weather grid including aplurality of cells in which a current weather hazard W0 exists in fourcells on the left side of the grid. A forecast weather hazard W10 (i.e.,predicted to hit in 10 minutes) exists in the next set of cells just tothe east of the current weather hazard. Similarly, a forecast weatherhazard W20 exists just to the east of the 10-minute forecast, and aforecast weather hazard W30 exists just to the east of the 20-minuteprediction. Thus, assuming that each cell measures 4 nautical miles oneach side, FIG. 3A shows that the storm is generally moving east at arate of 4 nautical miles every 10 minutes. Although only one weatherhazard per cell is shown, it is of course possible to have multipleweather hazards activated in each cell (e.g., severe hail and severelightning, for example). It will be appreciated that different cellsizes and granularity can be used as desired; in general, smaller cellsizes will result in increased computational needs, but greaterspecificity.

Also shown in FIG. 3A is a forecast vehicle or device location,illustrated by the notation V0 (vehicle position now) through V30(forecast vehicle location 30 minutes from the present time). As shownin FIG. 3A, the vehicle is moving due west at approximately 4 nauticalmiles every 10 minutes. At the initial time as shown in FIG. 3A, thecurrent vehicle position is not in a cell for which a weather hazardexists, and there is no projected overlap for the next 30 minutes basedon the 30-minute forecast weather hazard (indicated by W30) and the30-minute forecast vehicle position (indicated by V30). Thus, no warningis issued at this time. As meteorological science improves it will bepossible to generate warnings for more than 30 minutes into the future.

FIG. 3B shows the weather grid of FIG. 3A after ten minutes has elapsed.In FIG. 3B, all of the current and forecast weather hazards have movedone cell to the right (i.e., moved due east by four nautical miles), andthe vehicle positions (current and forecast) have moved to the left byone cell (i.e., moved due west by four nautical miles). Consequently,there is now an overlap between the vehicle's 20-minute forecastlocation and the storm's forecast 30-minute future location. Accordingto one variation of the invention, the weather center generates awarning to the vehicle or device indicating that a weather hazard isforecast to hit the vehicle in 30 minutes and, optionally, when thevehicle will “clear” the hazard. In general, the system looks formatches to indicate the time that the hazard will first be encounteredand its duration (i.e., based on the number of cells that the vehicle isexpected to travel through). There may be times when the hazard is solarge that the end of the hazard will be beyond the 30-minute interval;in such cases, no “duration” need be provided.

There are many different ways of evaluating the overlap situationsillustrated in FIGS. 3A through 3F, and the following is intended toprovide one example only. In one variation, for each overlapping cell,if the vehicle forecast time is greater than the weather forecast time(e.g., V30 is greater than W20), the cell is ignored for warningpurposes, whereas if the weather forecast time is greater than or equalto the vehicle forecast time, a warning is generated. Thus, according toone variation of the method, a warning is generated for only one cell inFIG. 3B (i.e., the cell containing W30 and V20). The warning time is theweather forecast time for that cell (i.e., 30 minutes). The validity ofthis prediction can be seen by looking forward to FIG. 3E, which showsthe situation 30 minutes later (i.e., the current vehicle position V0coincides with a current weather hazard, W0).

Turning now to FIG. 3C (twenty minutes later), there are four cells inwhich the vehicle's location falls in cells containing weather hazards.However, the two leftmost cells contain overlaps where the vehicleforecast time is greater than the weather forecast time, and these canbe ignored. The remaining two cells indicate that the vehicle's currentlocation is in a 30-minute hazard cell (cell containing V0), and thatthe vehicle's 10-minute future location is in a 20-minute hazard cell(cell with V10). The hazard time can be calculated as T=V+(W−V)=W, or 20minutes. That is, the hazard time is the weather forecast time in theleftmost cell that does not contain a vehicle forecast time that exceedsa weather forecast time. The validity of this forecast can be seen bylooking forward to FIG. 3E (twenty minutes hence), which shows that thevehicle is in a cell experiencing a weather hazard.

Alternatively, where multiple overlapping cells occur, a subtractionvalue W−V can be obtained (i.e., subtract the vehicle forecast time fromthe weather forecast time) for each cell. The cell containing the lowestnon-negative number is used to generate the warning value, and thewarning value is the weather forecast time. For example, in FIG. 3B,there are two overlapping cells, the first one having a W−V value of−10, and the second having a W−V value of +10. The cell containing the+10 value is used, and its weather forecast time is 30 minutes.Therefore, a 30-minute hazard warning is generated. Similarly, in FIG.3C, there are four overlapping cells, as follows: first cell W−V=−30;second cell W−V=-10; third cell W−V=+10; fourth cell W−V=+30. The cellgenerating the lowest non-negative number has a weather forecast valueof 20 minutes, which can be verified by looking ahead 20 minutes (FIG.3E). Similarly, in FIG. 3D, there are three overlapping cells, asfollows: first cell W−V=−20; second cell W−V=−10; third cell W−V=+10.The weather forecast value of that cell is 10 minutes, which can beverified by looking ahead 10 minutes (to FIG. 3E). Finally, in FIG. 3Ethere is only one overlapping cell, which has a W−V value of zero. Theweather forecast value for that cell is zero, indicating that a weatherhazard presently exists for the vehicle.

FIGS. 4A to 4C show a second illustrative example in which the vehicle'spredicted path changes over time (i.e., from generally northwest togenerally southwest). Beginning in FIG. 4A, at an initial time there isan overlap between two cells. The first cell has a W−V value of −20, andthe second cell has a W−V value of zero. The weather forecast for thenon-zero cell is 20 minutes, indicating that a weather hazard will occurin 20 minutes.

In FIG. 4B, ten minutes later, there are four overlapping cells, withW−V values as follows: first cell, W−V=−30; second cell, W−V=−10; thirdcell, W−V=+10; fourth cell, W−V=0. The two non-negative cells showweather hazard forecast times of 20 minutes and 10 minutes,respectively. The lowest non-negative cell has a forecast time of 10minutes, which can be given as the warning.

In FIG. 4C (twenty minutes after FIG. 4A), the forecast vehicle positionhas now shifted to a southwest position, possibly as a result ofreceiving updated position information from the vehicle, or due to aninterpolated new path based on updated information, or due to otherinformation such as deviation from a previously provided travel plan. InFIG. 4C, there are two overlapping cells, with W−V values as follows:first cell, W−V=0; second cell, W−V=+10. Using the cell having thelowest value (0), the forecast weather hazard time is 10 minutes, whichcan be given as the warning.

In addition to providing a warning indicating the time that a weatherhazard will be encountered, the system can provide an estimate as to theduration of the hazard, based on the current travel path of the vehicle.For example, if the weather grid indicates that the forecast vehicleposition for the next 30 minutes will intersect cells in which stormactivity is predicted for the next 30 minutes, but thereafter will becleared of the storm cells, the system can inform the vehicle operatorthat the weather hazard will last for 30 minutes. In FIG. 3C, forexample, a hazard duration value of 20 minutes can be given, because thevehicle's 20-minute future position is not in a cell that contains aweather hazard.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that similar methodologies maybe used to provide warning messages regarding events other thanmeteorological events, including smog warnings, chemical or biologicalattack warnings, earthquake, volcanic eruption, and the like.

As explained above, event center 101 preferably maintains informationregarding the positional location (e.g., latitude and longitude) of eachof a plurality of devices that have pre-registered with the event centerto provide mobile hazard reporting services. In one variation of theinvention, each device periodically transmits its current location tothe event center, and this information is used to update the grid.Devices can pre-register with the event center by providingidentification information, personal identifier, serial number, or otherunique ID, (e.g., the VIN for an automobile, a license plate number,fleet serial number, or the like), and this information is transmittedalong with the positional information to event center 101. Additionally,the computer in event center 101 can extrapolate future (forecast)positions for the device by comparing two previous locations along withthe time differences between transmissions from those locations.

For example, if a device has moved between two latitude/longitude pointswithin a certain period of time, the computer can calculate a predictedheading and velocity based on these two points and the elapsed timebetween the points. This heading and velocity can be translated intocells using simple linear algebra.

Device locations can also be correlated and interpolated based on a“flight plan” provided by a device owner before leaving for a trip. Aweb site can be used to facilitate the entry and transmission of thisinformation to weather center 101. For example, a driver can indicate ona map the starting point, ending point, and intended travel path (e.g.,by specifying or highlighting this route on a map). Weather center 101can use this information to determine the likely position of a devicebased on the starting time of the trip and the elapsed time.Additionally, information regarding speed limits on various highways canbe taken into consideration when determining the likely position of adevice (e.g., if traveling on an interstate that has a 65-mph speedlimit, the computer can assume that the vehicle has maintained thisspeed between two points). Consequently, if event center 101 does not orcannot receive a signal indicating device position, it can estimate theposition based on the trip plan filed by the device operator. In theevent that hazards are predicted for the vehicle, the system can suggestan alternate route that avoids or minimizes intersections with cellsthat have hazards.

In another variation of the invention, devices can register to use theservice by using a telephone (e.g., a cell phone) to dial a telephonenumber and provide the phone number of the device, to be activated foralerts. For example, a family traveling by automobile can use a cellphone capability of the device to call a toll-free telephone number andenter the telephone number of the device. Thereafter, they canperiodically transmit their current location. Event center 101 canthereafter transmit weather hazard warnings directly to the cell phone,in the form of short text messages, or by voice messages.

Aircraft positions can be obtained from an Aircraft Situation Display(ASD) data source, such as that provided by the Federal AviationAdministration. In this variation of the invention, event center 101obtains periodic location information and identification information(e.g., tail numbers) and uses it to identify the location of airplanes.Consequently, it is not necessary for aircraft to transmit theirlocation to weather center 101, although such a configuration is ofcourse within the scope of the invention.

In addition to transmitting current location information, each devicemay transmit other data, such as temperature and current and averagevelocity. Temperature data from the device could be used, for example,to help predict whether the roads will be icy based on meteorologicalconditions.

FIG. 5 shows various steps of a method that can be used to carry outvarious principles of the present invention. Beginning in step 501, oneor more devices pre-register to receive warnings. As described above,this pre-registration can occur using a web site; a telephone; dataconnection, or by other means. The registration step associates a deviceidentifier with the device, so that subsequent location updates for thatdevice identifier can be correlated with the device, including means forcommunicating with the device (e.g., an Internet Protocol address of adevice; a cell phone telephone number to which warnings will betransmitted, the network address of a wireless PDA; or the like). Onceregistered and activated, event center 101 will track and providewarnings to the device.

In step 502, a composite of current and forecast conditions is generatedand mapped onto a grid such as the type shown in FIG. 3A. There are manydifferent methods of predicting hazards, including human-originatedmeans, computer-generated means, and combinations of the two. As isconventional, various meteorological displays can be generated to showvarious forms of precipitation, temperatures, pressures, and windconditions. The data can include radar reflectivity data such as thatgenerated by NEXRAD radars operated by the National Weather Service;“slime track” information showing the position of observed or actualtornados over a period of time; meteorologist-entered information suchas the suspected location of a tornado or other severe weather event;information derived from spotters; and other data tending to show asevere weather event such as a tornado. In one embodiment, thisinformation can also include predicted future storm or tornado tracksthat are predicted using any of various technologies, such as thoseillustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,567, entitled “Method and Apparatusfor Tracking of Organized Storms.”

In another embodiment, a future path can be predicted using humanjudgment (e.g., trained meteorologists monitoring various radar data andother sensed information). In yet another embodiment, a projected pathas provided by the National Weather Service (NWS) can be used. The NWSoften provides an array of points or “dots” that can be connected todetermine the path along which a tornado or hurricane is expected tomove.

A tornado location can be heuristically determined using a combinationof radar echo shape (“hook” echo), radar wind velocity and echostructure, all well known in the meteorological community. Once theinitial position is determined, a predicted future location can bepredicted using the principles set forth in the '567 patent, or ameteorologist can use his or her judgment to establish a projectedfuture path. The National Weather Service transmits a Tornado DetectionAlgorithm (TDA) in its WSR-88 radar data stream, and this TDA positioncould thus also be used. The NWS also uses its own movement algorithms,which could be employed in conjunction with the principles of theinvention. Finally, information supplied by “spotters” can be used inconjunction with any of the above techniques in order to pinpoint thelocation of an actual tornado.

Event center 101 may similarly receive data regarding non-meteorologicalevents from government agencies and/or private companies.

In step 503, a composite of current and forecast device locations isgenerated and stored in a data structure like that of FIG. 3A, such thatdevice positions and hazards can be evaluated to determine whether thereare intersections in cells that would warrant one or more warnings. Asexplained above, device locations can be extrapolated if necessary, andupdated as device location updates are received.

In step 504, the forecast hazards and the forecast device locations arecompared to determine whether there are any overlaps. As explainedabove, for example, if a forecast device position in 30 minutes willintersect with a cell in which a storm hazard is forecast for 30minutes, a warning will be sent to the device operator, based on thepre-registered information (e.g., information correlating the deviceidentifier to a cell phone number, IP address, or other communicationtool). Additionally, the duration of the weather hazard can be providedbased on the forecast path of the device and the end of the weatherhazard. For example, if a severe hailstorm is predicted to occur acrossa large number of cells, but the vehicle will have passed beyond thecells in 45 minutes, then the event center can indicate that the hazardwill subside in 45 minutes.

Consequently, in step 505 a warning of the distance or travel time to ahazard is transmitted to the device or devices in the cell correspondingto the hazard, along with the duration of the hazard and othersupplemental information as available (e.g., tornado spotted in the cellin which the vehicle is traveling). In step 506, an optional step ofsuggesting an alternate route can be provided.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the functions of theevent center may be performed by system 200 (FIG. 2) based on receivedlocation and hazard information, such as meteorological or weatherinformation. That is, each system 200 may include control logic (e.g.,computer software executed by microporocessor 202 ) to perform thefunctions of an event center with respect to itself, calculating warninginformation for itself based on the received location and hazardinformation. In such an embodiment, an information distributor may relaypertinent weather and hazard information to each system, or theinformation may be received directly from primary information sources(e.g., the National Weather Service).

Roating User Map

According to an aspect of the invention, a rotating user map may be usedto improve vehicle and device navigation, and hazard awareness,resulting in improved safety and productivity. While the invention isdescribed with respect to weather hazards and meteorologicalinformation, the invention is applicable for providing warnings for anytype of hazard, including natural or man-made disasters, lifethreatening events, etc.

The GPS receiver 203 may communicate with the microprocessor 202 togenerate for display on display 201 a map that is tied to latitude andlongitude coordinates and that “rotates”as the user changes directions.That is, the top of the display (or any arbitrary fixed point) faces thesame direction the user is traveling. In addition, the range of thedisplay (i.e., the level of granularity and size of the area visible onthe display) is selectable by a user of the device or dynamically bysoftware controlling the device's operation. The range refers to thezoom level of the display. For example, a customer may use a short range(high zoom level) when using the system primarily as a navigationaltool, e.g., where the display depicts an area of only 1 square mile, inorder to view in detail the immediately surrounding area. However, acustomer may use a larger range (low zoom level) when using the systemto receive meteorological information and/or warnings, e.g., the displaydepicts an area of 100 square miles, in order to clearly viewmeteorological information for a larger geographic area. The zooming ofthe display may be controlled by the microprocessor 202.

FIG. 6 illustrates a display 201 of device 200, where the system istraveling to the north, and rain 605 is illustrated with respect to thelocation of the system. If the user holding the system or vehicle inwhich the system is located turns right onto Grand Ave. and beginstraveling to the east, the display rotates so that the direction oftravel is at the top of the display (or any other predetermined side),such as is illustrated in FIG. 7. While an icon 601 depicting a car isused to indicate the system's current position, any icon mayalternatively be used. Arrow 603 is for illustrative purposes,indicating the direction of travel of the system, and does notnecessarily need to be included on display 201.

With further reference to FIGS. 8, an aspect of the invention providescurrent and forecast weather information pertinent to the system's routeof travel. An override system may cause the zoom level of the display tochange to insure that the user receives critical information regardlessof the range or direction of travel when the information becomespertinent. The method as performed by the system may be controlled bythe microprocessor connected to the GPS receiver with appropriatecircuitry, hardware and/or software control logic.

When a user is viewing the display at a high zoom level (e.g., one mile)to view detailed street, topographic or marine information,meteorological information regarding an approaching storm might not bevisible on the display 201 until the system (and its user) is too nearthe meteorological phenomenon (e.g., inclement weather such as heavyrain or a lightning storm) to take appropriate precautions such asaltering his or her route of travel to avoid the inclement weather.Thus, according to an aspect of the invention, the system automaticallyenlarges the range (lowers the zoom level) as appropriate such that themeteorological threat is visible on the display as well as the icon 601indicating the position of the system.

FIG. 8 illustrates the display after the system automatically zooms outfrom the display illustrated in FIG. 7. FIG. 8 illustrates the icon 601indicating the current location of the user, the present location 801 ofa storm with severe weather areas 803 (e.g., hail), and the forecastlocation 805 of the storm and severe weather areas 807, with which thesystem will intersect. FIG. 8 also illustrates a warning 809 indicatingthat hail is predicted. The warning may optionally include a duration orexpiration time (see FIG. 9, discussed below). The types of hazards orinclement weather for which the system will automatically adjust therange of the display 201 may be user-defined or set by the systemsoftware.

In some embodiments the system automatically changes the zoom levelwithout user input if the inclement weather will intersect anextrapolated path of the user or the path as depicted on apre-registered trip plan. The extrapolated path of the user may be basedon a direction of travel of the system, or may be based on the road onwhich the user is currently traveling. That is, if the road turns orchanges directions, the system may assume that the system will turn andchange directions with it. Alternatively, the user may specify or thesystem may provide a default safe distance, e.g., five miles, where ifthe inclement weather is or is forecast to be closer than the safedistance value, then the system will automatically adjust the zoom suchthat the inclement weather (or weather forecast) is visible on thedisplay.

However, if the system and the inclement weather are not calculated tointersect (or get closer than the safe distance) at some future time,the system might not automatically change zoom levels. For example, whenthe system is traveling away from the inclement weather and the paths ofthe system and the weather do not intersect, the system will not changethe zoom level and interrupt the user's viewing of the display (e.g.,the user is heading south at 65 mph and the inclement weather behind theuser, while also heading south, is only moving at 30 mph).

Using the above described systems and methods, the weather warningsystem is user centric in that the display is based on the system'sspecific location. Another system one mile away will provide a differentdisplay. Each system displays hazards or hazard warnings when the hazardis pertinent to the specific system's location or path. Each systemoverrides the user to display a hazard pertinent to the system'slocation if the hazard is within a distance selected by the user, andeach system will not interrupt a user when the system is not threatenedby the hazard. By only displaying information pertinent to the specificsystem, the effectiveness of a storm warning or other alert is maximizedbecause false alarms are minimized. Another mobile device 905 displayinghazard information on a rotating user map is illustrated in FIG. 9,discussed further below.

Reporting Spotter Information

As indicated above, meteorological condition information or hazardinformation may be observed by a spotter or user near a location of theobserved condition or event. FIG. 9 illustrates a spotter 901 observing,e.g., meteorological condition 903, namely, a rotating wall cloud,indicative of a possible tornado. Spotter 901 may enter data 907 into amobile computing device 905, e.g., a personal digital assistant,smartphone, mobile telephone, or the like. Data 907 may include a type909 of the observed condition, and an approximate location 911 of theobserved condition.

Various input methods may be used to enter data 907 into mobile device905. For example, the observed condition may be selected from aconstrained list of predetermined inputs, e.g., by using a drop downlist, radio buttons, or the like. Alternatively, the spotter 901 maymanually enter the observed condition, e.g., by typing or writing inputinto the mobile device 905 as is known in the art. The predeterminedinputs may be selected by the mobile device based on a category (e.g.,meteorological, medical, natural disaster, terrorist, etc.) andsubcategory (e.g., under meteorological, sub-categories may includetornado, precipitation, lightning, etc.) selected by the spotter. Thus,if the spotter selects the meteorological category and tornadosubcategory, the mobile device may provide a drop down list or radiobuttons having selections for “Tornado On Ground,” “Funnel Cloud Aloft,”and “Rotating Wall Cloud” as is illustrated in FIG. 9. The followingtable provides illustrative categories, subcategories, and selectionswithin subcategories that may be used. TABLE 1 Category SubcategorySelections Meteorological Tornado Tornado On Ground Funnel Cloud AloftRotating Wall Cloud Precipitation Rain Sleet Hail Snow Flooding SurfaceConditions Icy Roads High Winds Sub-32° F. Heat Advisory MedicalIndividual Heart Attack Heat Exhaustion Seizure Broken Bone VehicularAccident Auto Accident Motorcycle Accident Bicycle Accident NaturalDisaster Volcanic Eruption Earthquake Forest Fire Terrorist AttackPhysical Bomb Gunfire/Artillery Hostages Chemical Liquid GaseousBiological Contained Uncontained

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that alternative categories,subcategories, and selections within subcategories may be used to suitthe needs of the particular system. That is, the specific categories,subcategories, and selections within subcategories used is secondary tothe fact that categories, subcategories, and selections withinsubcategories are used to provide a constrained list of selection itemsto a user. In addition, more or fewer hierarchical levels of categoriesmay alternatively be used and, as evidenced above, the same number ofcategory levels need not be used for each top-level category.

The approximate location input by the user may be based on the locationof the mobile device 905, e.g., when device 905 includes a globalpositioning system (GPS). The spotter 901 may enter informationindicating that the observed condition is at the location of the mobiledevice 905, or may provide information indicating the observedcondition's location relative to the mobile device 905, e.g., byproviding a distance 913 from the mobile device 905, and a direction 915from the mobile device to the observed condition. Optionally, the mobiledevice 905 may be equipped with a compass and/or a distance meter (e.g.,a laser distance calculator) to help the user determine the direction ofan event from the mobile device as well as the distance of the eventfrom the mobile device. The device may then convert the locationinformation into estimated latitude and longitude coordinates. Inaddition, the user of the mobile device may provide an approximatelocation of the observed condition by selecting a position on thedisplayed map. That is, the user can touch the screen at the approximatelocation of the observed condition, and the device translates the touchinput coordinates to an approximate location (e.g., latitude andlongitude) of the observed condition based on the input location on thedisplayed map.

In other embodiments, alternative methods of computing location may beused. For example, the system may be adapted for use in a particularlocation, such as a large stadium, arena, race track, or other venue inwhich prompt reporting of hazardous and life-threatening events canpotentially save lives. In such a scenario, the system may be adaptedfor the user to input a section, row, and/or seat number where anaffected individual is located. That is, if a patron seated in section212, row AA, seat 10 is having chest pains, that patron (or othersaround him or her) can signal an usher or employee equipped with amobile device 905 adapted for use in the particular venue. The employeemay then select Medical/Heart Attack from the constrained list ofselection items on the device, and enter the location section 212, rowAA, and optionally seat 10 (the section and row numbers typicallyprovide enough specificity for emergency response purposes). Theemployee then sends the information by selecting the ‘send’button 917 orsimilar option. The information is wirelessly transmitted to the eventcenter 101, and a confirmation message may optionally be relayed back tothe device 905 from which the employee sent the information to confirmthat the report was received by the event center 101. In this example,the venue operator may maintain its own event center, in which case thevenue operators are immediately notified of the patron's medicalsituation and can initiate the emergency response thereto. In addition,the venue operator may have a GIS map that correlates GPS locations tospecific seat locations, where the reported location information is sentin latitude/longitude format.

In another embodiment of the invention, the mobile device 905 may beequipped with a RFID tag reader, and RFID tags may be located throughouta venue, e.g., at each section, row, seat, conference hall, points ofinterest, offices, etc. Each RFID tag then identifies the location inwhich the RFID tag is placed when activated by the RFID tag reader onthe mobile device 905, and the location information is automaticallyinput into device 905 for further communication to event center 101.

Upon submitting the data to the event center 101 (FIG. 1), the eventcenter may perform an integrity check on the reported data. Theintegrity check may include determining the user or spotter from whichthe information was received. If the spotter is known to theorganization operating the event center, the information is more likelyto be reliable than if the information is received from a user unknownto the organization operating the weather center. In addition, the eventcenter may compare the received information to known conditions (e.g.,current weather) to determine if the condition is likely or evenpossible. For example, upon receiving a report from a spotter that arotating wall cloud has been observed at location X,Y, the event centermay compare the report with other meteorological information. If allother meteorological information indicates that location X,Y is sunnywith no clouds in the sky, the received report might be discarded orignored.

After performing the integrity check, the event center integrates thenewly received information with presently known information, e.g.,information received from other sources such as the National WeatherService, FEMA, etc. In addition, the event center may transmit theupdated information to remote subscribers who have previously requestedto be kept informed of conditions in certain areas. FIG. 10 illustratesa subscriber display including an indication 1001 of the spotter'sreport regarding the rotating wall cloud.

The reporting system described herein is especially useful in high-noiseenvironments, such as at auto races, during high winds or storms, amidsta panicked crowd of people, on an airport tarmac, or at other high-noiseevents, because communications are not dependent on voice communicationsor being able to hear a user attempt to audibly report eventinformation. The system is also particularly useful in self-sustainedenvironments or areas that do not rely on public emergency responsegroups. For example, many auto race tracks, speedways, andsuperspeedways are not supported by public 911, fire department,paramedic service, and/or hospitals. That is, they provide their ownfire department, their own paramedic service, and/or their own hospital.In such a scenario, the present system can be used to report events whencalling 911 would only introduce an additional level of delay (i.e., 911would either inform the caller that they cannot send paramedics to thecaller's location, or 911 would merely call the venue operator forfurther action on the venue operator's part).

With further reference to FIG. 14, one or more aspects of the inventionmay provide or allow a user of a mobile device adapted to perform asdescribed herein, e.g., any of devices 107 a, 108 a, 109 (FIG. 1),device 200 (FIG. 2), or device 905 (FIG. 9), to report follow upinformation relevant to the reported event based on the type of event orhazard initially reported by the user. That is, certain event types mayhave associated secondary information that, while not necessary in theinitial report, provides useful follow up information that may assistprivate, local, state, or federal agencies in responding to the eventreport. For example, if a tornado is reported, it would be useful toprovide a direction and speed of travel of the tornado. If a heartattack is reported, it would be useful to provide blood pressureinformation, if known. The below table provides an illustrative exampleof secondary information that may be associated with event types, andstored in the memory of the mobile device, as well as the expectedformat of the input values for the secondary information. The secondaryinformation preferably comprises one or more numerical quantities,although the invention is not limited in this respect as is evident inTable 2. For example, the secondary information may also comprise aBoolean variable, text, or an image such as a photograph. TABLE 2Secondary Event Type Information Requested Format Tornado on groundSpeed mph Direction of travel compass direction Heart Attack Bloodpressure Number Electrocardiogram (EKG) Binary data Broken Bone Bonelocation Text Flooding Depth Number (Ft.) Hostages Number of peopleNumber Motorcycle Accident Rider wearing helmet? (Y/N) BooleanPhotograph of helmet Image

The above are merely examples of secondary information that may beprovided. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that different oradditional secondary information may be provided, as determined by theneeds of the particular system and event types used. The specificsecondary information provided is secondary to the ability to providesecondary information based on a selected event type.

Referring to FIG. 14, in step 1401, a user of a mobile device visuallyobserves or learns of an event or hazard regarding which the userdesired to report back to the event center. Such an event may includeany event discussed herein, including meteorological events, medicalevents, etc. After visually observing or learning about the event, theuser inputs an event type in step 1403.

The device determines the event location in step 1405, e.g., based on aGPS location (e.g., latitude, longitude, and altitude) determinedautomatically by the mobile device, based on the GPS location inconjunction with a user provided or automatically determined directionand distance from the mobile device of the event, other user providedinformation (e.g., section, row, and/or seat number of a venue), orbased on externally obtained location information, e.g., by reading anRFID tag storing location information. These are but a few examples ofhow the location may be determined. The specific methodology used issecondary to the ability of the user or device to input or determine theevent location in proximity to the mobile device. The mobile device instep 1407 sends the event type and event location to the event centervia a wireless communications network, e.g., a wireless data link overthe Internet or a cell phone with a modem.

In step 1409 the mobile device determines whether any secondaryinformation is associated with the selected event type. The mobiledevice may determine whether any secondary information is associatedwith the selected event type by looking up the selected event type in atable, similar to Table 2, above. Alternatively or in addition to thelookup table of secondary information based on event type, the eventcenter, upon receiving the initial report of the event type and eventlocation, may transmit a list of requested secondary information back tothe reporting mobile device, optionally with a confirmation of receiptof the initial report. If no secondary information is associated withthe selected event type, the method proceeds to step 1415.

If secondary information is associated with the selected event type, themobile device prompts the user, and the secondary information is enteredin step 1411. The mobile device may also receive automated secondaryinformation input from intelligent devices connected to or incommunication with the mobile device, e.g., a camera and/or microphone.The mobile device transmits in step 1413 the entered secondaryinformation to the event center.

The event center distributes the received information, e.g., the initialevent type, event location, and associated secondary information, tothird parties in step 1415. Event center may simply display the reportedinformation on a display device for an event center operator to visuallyobserve, and may optionally output audio to alert the operator of theincoming report. The server computer at the event center may log theevent and store records of it for future use, and may also forwardalerts to other personnel, as appropriate. In addition, authorized usersmay access the data stored on the event center server, e.g., via theInternet.

The inventive system, including the mobile device(s) from which reportscan be sent, in conjunction with the event center server with networkaccess, provides routine, non-incident public safety and medicalinformation collection and dissemination to appropriate personnel. Theevent center server may optionally provide a geographically specific map(e.g., a street-level map) illustrating the locations of all relatedparties to an event as determined by a particular subscriber to theevent center. E.g., if a remote user reports a medical emergency, andthe emergency response personnel are equipped with location awaredevices (e.g., GPS) that report the location of the emergency responsepersonnel back to the event center, the event center may track thelocation of the emergency response personnel and the injured person'slocation on the map, and may report the location and ETA of theemergency response personnel to the mobile device from which the medicalemergency report was received.

The event center server may also provide, or be linked to anotherdatabase that can provide, information regarding known risk factors forthe reporting party (e.g., a subscriber is known to be allergic tocodeine) and/or the incident location (e.g., the location is accessibleonly by dirt road). The event center may also communicate with othercomputers, databases, and/or electronic devices to obtain configuration,diagnostic, and/or repair information based on the event type and/orsecondary information received, and optionally transmit the informationback to the mobile device from which the event information and secondaryinformation is received.

Given that the system described herein provides meteorological warningsas well as receives event reporting information, the event center servermay mediate between responders, on-scene systems and meteorologicaldatabases to provide location-based prospective and historical weatherconditions, e.g., conditions at the time the event was reported,believed to have occurred, and/or for the expected duration of theincident or the response thereto.

The event center may also be used for subsidiary operations such astracking consumables inventory (e.g., drugs administered on-scene at areported event), and tracking durable equipment inventory, maintenance,and repair.

As indicated above, authorized users or subscribers can access anyand/or all information stored in the event center server or servers,either directly from within the event center or remotely via a networkconnection such as through the Internet. In addition, the event centerserver notifies applicable personnel, e.g., based on the type of eventand/or the location of the event. That is, if a medical event occurswithin the jurisdiction of Smith County, the event center may notify theSmith County Police and Smith County Paramedics. However, if the eventoccurs at the Kansas Speedway, the event center may also oralternatively notify the Kansas Speedway operations center becauseKansas Speedway operates its own medical response unit and has hospitalfacilities on-site. The personnel, company, group, agency, etc., tonotify may be stored in a lookup table, database, or the like in theevent center server, and may be based on event type, event location, orany other information (including secondary information) received from amobile device.

Custom Warnings

According to an aspect of the invention, a subscriber may be atelevision station or a meteorologist employed by a television station,and updated meteorological information may be automatically sent to acomputer used by the meteorologist or at the location of the televisionstation. The meteorologist may want to display information, referred toas a “crawl”, over a television program being broadcast by thetelevision station, based on the received meteorological information.The crawl displays text moving from right to left on the top or bottomof a television screen. However, if the meteorologist is not present,viewers might not receive a crawl warning that they otherwise would ifthe meteorologist were present when the warning arrived from the eventcenter. Thus, the event center (or alternatively the subscriber'scomputer with applicable control logic or software) may automaticallygenerate crawl text for broadcast over a television program. When themeteorologist subscriber's computer receives or generates the automatedcrawl text, the crawl information is sent to a broadcast computer formixing with the television signal, such that the broadcast televisionsignal includes the crawl text moving across the screen.

FIG. 11 illustrates a conventional method for generating a crawl fordisplay over a television broadcast. In a typical scenario, in step1101, a tornado or some other event is spotted by a stormchaser or otherindividual near the location of the tornado, and the individual notifiesa law enforcement agency, e.g., by calling 911 or the police. In step1103, the law enforcement agency notifies the National Weather Service.In step 1105, the NWS manually sends the information to the AdvancedWeather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) of the NWS (that is, theytype it). In step 1107, an AWIPS administrator types in informationregarding the tornado or other event and sends the information to theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Wire(NWWR) and other dissemination channels. In step 1109, the NWWR sends anotification to a television station. In step 1111, the televisionstation processes the notification by manually entering crawl text basedon the notification, and airs the crawl for broadcast. The amount oftime from initial sighting in step 1101 to display in step 1111 usuallytakes approximately 5 to 30 minutes.

FIG. 12 illustrates a method for generating television displayinformation according to an illustrative aspect of the invention. Instep 1201, a storm chaser or other individual equipped with a mobiledevice as described herein witnesses a tornado or other hazardous orlife-threatening event. In step 1203, the user inputs information aboutthe event into the mobile device, which wirelessly transmits theinformation as a “ground truth” report to a event center. In step 1205,the event center performs a quality control integrity check on thereceived “ground truth” report, either by manually comparing thereceived report to presently known conditions for the applicable area,or by using automated computer algorithms to do so. In step 1207, theevent center sends the quality controlled report to a device, such as aremote, mobile or vehicular device described herein (including, e.g.,the device from which the report was received). The event center mayalso send email notifications or other reports to one or more devices orentities including, e.g., the NWS, news media, etc. The remote devicemay also include a computing device at a television station which, instep 1209, automatically processes the received quality controlledreport for broadcast via television. The television broadcast mightinclude not only a text crawl, but also a plotted weather report similarto that illustrated in FIG. 10. The amount of time from initial sightingin step 1201 to display in step 1209 takes less than one minute, andtypically only requires about 30 seconds when the integrity check isperformed automatically.

An advantage of the present invention is that crawl information can beautomatically generated without human intervention, thus presentingcrawls and other information to viewers in much less time thanpreviously possible, thereby saving lives. In some embodiments, a usermay be required to authorize or approve the automatically generatedtext, for example, a meteorologist may approve the crawl text regardingweather prior to its being sent over the broadcast TV signal. In anotherembodiment, the crawl may be sent automatically over the broadcastwithout requiring a user to approve or authorize the crawl. Anotheradvantage of the present invention is that, because the remote devicefrom which a ground truth report is received may be GPS-enabled,location information is inherently trustworthy. Whereas in previoussolutions, manual data entry errors often resulted in misidentifying thelocation of meteorological events.

Using the above-described system, a user is not required to type thetext of the crawl into a computer because the weather center or clientcomputer can generate the crawl automatically based on the location ofthe client computer, or based on some other predetermined location(e.g., the viewing area of the television station). The event center orsubscriber computer may store a database of text information indicativeof common words and phrases used in warnings, e.g., times, locations,hazard types, and the like. When a warning is received that should beprovided to television viewers, the event center or subscriber computerautomatically generates a crawl message using the stored words andphrases in the database, e.g., “A thunderstorm watch is in effect forWashington County until 9:30 PM.”, based on the content of the hazardwarning information received from the event center. Alternatively,crawls can also be manually typed into a Chyron or other messagingsystem at the television station.

According to another aspect of the invention, audio warnings may beautomatically generated and spoken back to a user of a mobile warningdevice. For example, with reference to FIG. 13, a hazard warning system1305 as described herein may be integrated in a vehicular media system1303, e.g., AM, FM, or satellite radio receiver, CD/DVD player, digitalmusic player, navigation system, or the like, so that the vehicle hasone combined information and media display system 1301. The vehicularmedia system 1303 and hazard warning system 1305 may both be connectedto an output override circuit 1307. The output override circuit, bydefault, passes information received from the vehicular media system1303 to the audio and video output devices, e.g., speaker(s) 1309 andvisual display 1311. However, when a warning is receive or detected byhazard warning system 1305, the output override circuit may mute orlower the volume of the vehicular media system 1303 and output audioinformation from hazard warning system 1305 via speaker 1309. Inaddition, output override circuit 1307 may overlay information receivedfrom hazard warning system 1105 on top of other information alreadydisplayed on visual display 1311.

Hazard warning system 1305 may be connected to warning database 1313that stores audio clips that may be combined to provide customized audiowarnings to a driver of the vehicle so that the driver does not need todivert his or her attention from the road to read information on thevisual display. Warning database may store pre-recorded audio clips thathazard warning system 1305 combines and plays to provide the properwarning. E.g., hazard warning system 1305 might combine the recordedaudio clips “hail,” “is,” “detected,” “five,”“miles,” “ahead,” “and,”“is expected to last,” “until,” “four,” and “PM” to inform the user thatthe system, on its present route of travel, is predicted to encounterhail in five miles and the hail will last until 4 PM. In an alternativeembodiment, the warning database stores text strings which, aftercombined, are read back by a text-to-speech processor in the hazardwarning system 1305.

Any of the methods of the invention can be implemented in control logic,e.g., software, that can be stored on computer disks or othercomputer-readable media for execution in a computer or other dataprocessing device. The invention can be implemented using web browsertechnology, handheld computing units, and/or cellular telephones inaddition to or instead of being integrated into a vehicular system.Moreover, the invention has wide application for various types ofweather hazards including lightning, hail, hurricanes, wind shear, andthe like, and the inventive principles can be applied equivalently tosuch phenomena, as well as to natural and man-made hazards, disasters,and life-threatening events. No claim should be interpreted to be inmeans plus function format. Numbered steps in method claims should notbe interpreted to require a particular ordering of the steps, unless theclaim expressly requires such ordering. What has been described above ismerely illustrative of the application of the principles of the presentinvention. Other arrangements and methods can be implemented by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

1. A method for providing information regarding an observed event,comprising: (a) receiving an event type as user input into a mobile dataprocessing device, said event type selected from a constrained set ofevent types displayed on the mobile data processing device, and whereinthe event type identifies a medical condition or injury affecting aperson; (b) determining an event location in proximity to the mobiledata processing device; (c) wirelessly sending from the mobile dataprocessing device to an event center, the event type and the determinedevent location; (d) receiving at the mobile data processing device, aninput value for a type of secondary information associated with theselected event type; and (e) wirelessly sending from the mobile dataprocessing device to the event center, the input value for the secondaryinformation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein in step (d) the inputvalue of the associated type of secondary information comprises adigital photograph.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprisesdetermining the event location based on a GPS-determined location of themobile data processing device.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving a confirmation message from the event center inresponse to receipt of the information sent in step (c).
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises determining the type of secondaryinformation associated with the event type by looking up the selectedevent type in a database stored in a memory of the mobile dataprocessing device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprisesdetermining the type of secondary information associated with the eventtype by receiving the type of secondary information from the eventcenter.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) comprises navigatinga hierarchy of categories and subcategories and selecting the event typein a last selected subcategory.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein thehierarchy of categories comprises a medical category.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein step (d) comprises receiving an input value for each ofa plurality of types of secondary information, and wherein step (f)comprises sending the input value for each of the plurality of types ofsecondary information.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d)comprises receiving input from a camera.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein steps (c) and (e) occur in a single transmission.
 12. The methodof claim 1, wherein in step (d) the input value of the associated typeof secondary information comprises a blood pressure.
 13. The method ofclaim 1, wherein in step (d) the input value of the associated type ofsecondary information comprises EKG information.
 14. The method of claim1, wherein in step (d) the input value of the associated type ofsecondary information comprises blood gas information.
 15. A computerreadable medium storing computer executable instructions for performingthe method of claim
 1. 16. A method for providing information regardingan observed event, comprising: (a) receiving from a mobile dataprocessing device, computer readable data comprising informationcorresponding to an event visually observed by a user of the mobile dataprocessing device, wherein said computer readable data includes an eventtype and an event location based on a location of the mobile dataprocessing device, and wherein the event type identifies a medicalcondition or injury affecting a person; (b) sending via a dataconnection to the mobile data processing device a confirmation messagein response to receiving the computer readable data in step (a); and (c)receiving from the mobile data processing device, computer readable datacomprising secondary information corresponding to the event type. 17.The method of claim 16, wherein said data indicating the event typeindicates a medical condition affecting a person in proximity with themobile data processing device.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein instep (a) the received event location corresponds to a location within anentertainment venue.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein in step (a) thereceived event location corresponds to a section within theentertainment venue.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein in step (a) thereceived event location corresponds to a row within the section.
 21. Acomputer readable medium storing computer executable instructions forperforming the method of claim
 16. 22. A handheld data processingdevice, comprising: a transceiver for sending and receiving data to andfrom a wireless data communication network; a display screen; aprocessor for executing computer readable instructions stored in amemory of the handheld data processing device; said memory storing thecomputer executable instructions, said computer executable instructions,when executed by the processor, cause the device to perform an eventreporting method comprising steps of: (a) determining a present locationof the handheld data processing device; (b) displaying on the displayscreen a geographic map oriented around the present location of thehandheld data processing device; (c) displaying a list of a plurality ofevent categories; (d) receiving user input selecting one of theplurality of categories; (e) displaying a list of a plurality of eventtypes corresponding to the selected category; (f) receiving user inputselecting a first event type in the selected category, wherein the firstevent type identifies a medical condition or injury affecting a person;(g) determining a location corresponding to the first event type basedon the present location of the handheld data processing device; (h)sending via the transceiver data corresponding to the first event typeand determined location; (i) determining a type of secondary informationcorresponding to the first event type; (j) receiving an input value forthe type of secondary information; and (k) sending via the transceiverthe input value for the type of secondary information.
 23. The handhelddevice of claim 22, wherein the display screen comprises atouch-sensitive display screen, and step (f) comprises detecting a pointon the map touched by a user.